Pomona (mythology)

Pomona
Goddess of fruit trees, fruitful abundance, plenty, gardens, and orchards
Statue of Pomona, Naples Archaeology Museum (late 2nd century AD)
Major cult centerPomonal
Abodegardens and orchards
Symbolspruning knife
FestivalsVertumnalia
ConsortVertumnus

Pomona (/pəˈmnə/ ,[1] Latin: [poːˈmoːna]) was a goddess of fruitful abundance and plenty in ancient Roman religion and myth. Her name comes from the Latin word pomum, "fruit", specifically orchard fruit.

Pomona was said to be a wood nymph.[2][3] Pomona does not have a clear counterpart in Greek mythology, although the fruit goddess Opora can be seen as her equivalent.[4]

  1. ^ "Pomona". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  2. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses (trans. Michael Simpson: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001), p. 448.
  3. ^ Matthew Gumpert, Grafting Helen: The Abduction of the Classical Past (University of Wisconsin Press, 2001), p. 69.
  4. ^ Metta, Demetra. "Μορφές και Θέματα της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Μυθολογίας: Αναξαρέτη" [Figures and Themes of Greek Mythology: Anaxarete]. www.greek-language.gr (in Greek). Retrieved November 21, 2023.